Artificial limb.



B. MUELLER.-

ARTIFICIAL LIME. APPLICATION FILED 11110.6, Ho's.

Patentd July 12,1910.

FIE-1.1-

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 346W aw/c0 v features.

' of the arti ciel leg is'illustruted at 1; afoot .member is s own at 3in Fig. 2. In Fig. 1

UNITED STAT S rAT NT ormon.

- I n'nennnnm' MUELLER, or RESERVE 'rowr'rsiur, nmnennn oovnrt, PENNSYLVANIA.

9 3, 797, I Specification of Letters Patent. 'Patented July1 2, .1910 l Application filed December 6, 1909. Serial No. 531,558. l To all whom it may concern: the foot member 2. is articulated to the le' Be it known that I, Elvennnn nr MUELLER, member 1 by the particultir means Whihii'i" residing in Reserve township, in the county shown in Fig. 3. They consist of two bolts"; of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a 4 and 5, WhlCl'l extend longitudinallv in the citizen of the United States,-haveinventcd or leg member and the foot n1ember,"'respec-f "66f discovered certain new and useful Improve tivel Their he'ads,"6 'an'd 7, protrude from ments i-n .Artificial Limbs, of which improve- 1 the ll eg nemberkmd the' foot member; r'e- I ments the folloivin is a specification. sjfe ctively, and these"heads"arfin sha is com? Mfiyenvention re ates to improvements in. p ementa'ry hinge-knuckles, that let ey ere art] (rial l mbs. 5 shaped to engage one a'n'othei lwhenbrought 65" Theobje'ct of iny improvement is generv ally to provide for the removal of one member, for exam 'le a foot member, andthe re placement of it by another member, io r example a peg member. 1 I

In an'app'lication filed by me September 7th, 1909, Serial N0.,51(3,469, I have shown and described an artificial leg and foot articulated together and having certain novel 'while the other member sw-in s upon "it. This detail of the pivoting is oweverno' part of my present invention; it-is described, and claimed in the earlier application; rje ferred to. For the pi'ii'posesof the present invention, it is-sufiicient to note that in such Way the foot articulatedwith the leg, being prefer, ably piyoted thereon. It is. urtl 1er"to-"be My present'imention is here illustrated as si lpplementaryto the construction which is therein shown'and describe-ti.

Figure l is a View in side elevation ideii-- tical with one-of the figures of the ap licetion referred to,0f a'nartificial leg anti? articulated one to the other. Fig. 2 13 a vertical section illustrating av l'e member of Fig. l, but inj place'of the not member which in Fig. 1 is shown articulated to it, peg member is' articulatedto it. In lg, 3 is shown on larger scale particular means for articulating the parts together such as-I have described in the earlier ,appli'cation re-- ferred to. i y g While for ordinary usage it is desir' able to have the foot of en artificial leg piv oted to the leg itself,'that .in' use the foot may have a certain movement like the movement of a natural foot upon. the ankle joint, 21 user may at times desire to have what is called a peg leg, that is a leg which ends" with a blunt tip 'with no pivoted foot upon it. Such apeg leg is useful for-rough v'valk ing and in rough working generally.

y resent invention consists more particularly in the shaping of a peg member-and the application of the eg member in place of the foot member-o an artificial leg, in which'the legbody and the-foot are pivoted to one another. v

} Referrin to l igs. Land 2, the leg member pivotal movement relative to-theI leg,.'t e adjacent; surfaces of-tl1e"hodyxof the} ,member-en-d' the loot 'iii'ember' must nit, of such pivotalpltry; Tothis-"ende th surber and the foot member respeetiive'yyail- 'jacent tofthe Pivot-joint, are, as indicated "til Fig. l, so SlfiPetl-HS to ellow a'ceIftem" amount of )lay. The foot member, so described, is et-echable from the leg'nieniber 9B simply by drawing the. pivot-pin. Ifthe pivotin be secured by the tightening of one o' the bolts, it is of course necessary to loosen that bolt before the pivot-pin may peg member, illustrated at 3 in Fig. 2. It

is attached to or articulated to the leg member 1 in recisely the same manner as the foot member is articulated thereto, that 'is by being provided with a bolt 5, extend- 105 -ing longitudinally through it, and with a head forming a hinge-knuckle complementary-to. the hinge-knuckle ofi the bolt- 4i whlch the leg member carries, .and 'pivote member is shown at 2 in Fi'gr-l, and a peg thereon by .a pivot-pin. It is not however noted; that,- .to--the end that thefoot inay here.

faces '8 and 9 of thebodies of'the le meni k be drawn. I provide also what I call the a socket in the lower face I ordinarily desirable to have this with the surface of sired,

move the foot by peg member swing ivotally on the leg member, and to that and: instead of shaping the surface of the peg'member adjacent to the pivot joint so as to permit of pivotal play, the surface of'the peg member is shaped to form a surfaee'of contact of considerable extent to the point of articulation when the parts are assembled. This is indicated at 10 in Fig. 2. The body of this stump member is preferably made of ri 'id'material, such as Soft Wood, and is preiterahly covered with rawhide. Its lower end, that is the end or face which forms the bearing, is preferably elastic, and to thisend I conveniently form of this peg memher, which socket is preferably lined with a metallic sleeve 11, and into this socket I insert a bearing block 12, preferably made of indie-rubbe I preferably secure the bolt 5 by having it protrude into this socket, and l preferably so shape and proportion the parts that, the bolt 5 is a counterpart of the bolt 5 used in securing the foot member when deand accordingly a single bolt 5- is all that is necessary, for the user of tliis'alternative foot and peg construction, may then remerely loosening the nutand may then apply the pegmember in its place and secure it by applying the nut again.

'j i It Will be understood that the dimensions stantially the same preferably of leather,

are such that the length of the leg is sub- Whether the foot member or the stump member be applied at. its lower end, allowance however being made for a shoe which is ordinarily worn upon an arti- By Way of further adapting my artificial leg to rough usage when the stump member is applied, I ordinarily provide a boot 1;"),

covering'the joint begween the stump member and the leg mem- I claim herein as my invention: 1. In an artificial leg, the cortibinatiou. of

the leg member, adjacent a leg mcmber, a foot member,

.eg and foot members, a means for rigidly but removablv articulating said leg member tcrchapgeable in leg member, substantially as'deseribed.

a leg member provided with a hinge-knuckle, a foot member, hinge-kn uckle adapted for peg members i'einovably applied to said foot member or said peg a hingc-pin completing the joint when two 'ot said members with their complementuiv hinge-knuckles sta ntially as described.

consisting of a body portion provided with a surface of passing through said body portion from said peg member being the combination of means for articulating said peg member, and

2. In an artificial leg,

ivotally and removably and peg members, the said foot and the saidpeg member being intheir application to said 3. In an artificial leg, the combination of a peg member, and a second complementary to the first application to both the foot and member as desired, and

are brought together, sub- 4. In an artificial leg, the combination of aleg member and a peg member engaging one another over extended contacting sur-' faces, complementary ried by one another when the said brought together over faces, substantially as articulating parts careach of said members and engaging members are such contacting surdescribed.

5. A peg member for an artificial limb contact and with a socket, a bolt.

surface of contact to said socket, and a hearmy hand.

ing block engaged by and protruding from said socket, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set ENGELBER'l M 1 nu maul W itu esses:

BAYARI) ll. Cnms'rr,

IlRANGJS-J, 'lomnsson. 

